Can someone clear up something for me

[vl1969]

I just got a dell r730xd server with dual xenon 32gb ram and 4x2tb in raid6 config
I need to setup a dc/ad/dns vm and file server on it. Can someone outline the proper setup order and steps to do this. I have a 2008 small business server as my dc controller now. I want to build out the vm with 2012, move the domain there and rebuild the current server with 2012 as well so we would have 2 dc. Yes we have been running for years with one dc. There is no real it at this place. All gets outsourced on as needed basis. I am kind of the most it knowledgeable person here and am trying to get things in proper order as much as can. But I need help with this. I also need to know how to setup the file server with this setup. What is the proper way to do this.

Thanks.

 

[Naeblis]

um.. why raid 6 with 4 disks? just do raid 10

basic steps,
host
install windows with hyper v on boot drive (mirrored ssds 10ogb each see deals forum with thread on boot drive)
multiple nics
dedicate one nic as a hyper v switch,
configure Hyperv to use the raid drive for VMs etc.
build out a new test VM in hyper v to test connectivity (join to your domain)
P to V the DC
use the machine from earlier (or create new one) put in a massive "share" drive. you can have the drive be dynamically expanding
enable duplication on the share drive
permissions etc on share

share away!

Thom

-- edit.. i don't think you can have two DCs with SBS

 

[vl1969]

No, I do not want smb in vm, I plan to build a new 2012 dc move accounts from the smb to it and make that pdc, than rebuild the original with 2012 than move all back to it keeping the vm as secondary dc. Basically having 2 dc on domain as a redundant setup.
I went with raid 6 for future expandability, the raid controller allows expancion on the fly so when needed I can just add disks and expand. It takes longer to expand and convert. I also will be installing the system on a raid 1 sd cards. It's a dell option. They have a dual sd card module for just that setup.
So once I get the system going I just put the storage group on the raided volume and put vmdx for file server there? Right so all data will be in the vmdx in vm.
Got it. And yes I will create the bridge o. One of the nics. I have 4 +1 for idrac interface

 

[Naeblis]

couple of items.

• the DC will have to be a different domain. SBS cannot have multiple domain controllers. There can be only 1 (cheesy highlander reference)
• moving account to new domain
  • you taking about manually right?
  • please also remember your DNS and DHCP.
  • what about your exchange?
  • SBS is a great product but it has several major gotchas
    • just to be clear, any attempt to have 2 domain controllers when starting from Small Business Sever is a complete AD redo
• Moving items back off the DC
  • it does not work like that. you can have two DCs and all the AD info is automatically replicated. if you are talking about splitting your FSMO roles then yes you can move those around
• File Server
  • yes once you have Hyper V, avoid creating a bridge (just uncheck the box that says share this with the operating system), you would put your VHDs on the share.
• Data and deduplication
  • you dont / should not dedup your volume where the VHDs are stored (hyper v host). however you can dedup the file share data inside the VHDs.
  • Correct all of your file share data will reside in the VHDs.

 

[vl1969]

We do not have exchange, we have been on hosted exchange for over a year now. I did some research and it should not be too much issue moving to new dc. And yes I was talking about replication dc. We are running a single dc. As it is, the how tos says once the dc is setuped, and ad role is added it should start replication of accounts, and once all settings are in I can move the fsmo and shutdown the smb machine.

 

[Naeblis]

I apologize, i have been in enterprise IT for so long all of my SBS was stale / myths and from over a decade ago. Yes you can have more than one DC in a SBS domain. you will just need to demote / remove the SBS server within 21 days so the replica can hold the FSMO roles w/o the SBS server complaining.

Here is a blog that gives you more detailed steps Transition from Small Business Server to Standard Windows Server

and here is blog posting about SBS Limitations
http://blogs.technet.com/b/sbs/arch...controllers-replica-dcs-in-an-sbs-domain.aspx

 

[vl1969]

Funny, that was exactly the blogs I found

 

[Lost-Benji]

There are some good comments in here. Some though can be left out for now, get back to the basics.
OP: I sense you maybe a little too grey & green on a few things, don't take it the wrong way if short or blunt.

Licensing of server 2012r2 is as such. One license can be used as a bare-metal VM-host and be used for up to two guests on the same key.
If you plan to use Hyper and as such above, then the Host is just that, A Host, not anything else.

Best way to do this. The idea of a pair of small SSD's for the Host OS is great and I use it in all my servers. RAID-6 of four drives, seriously wasteful and sounds like bad thinking. Use RAID-10 and then stick the VM's on it. Don't bury the VM's and VHD's in the default folder patchs that idiots @ MS love doing, keep them in simple folder on root of the array. Build the first VM with 2012r2 and make sure to give it at least 4 cores and at least 4GB of RAM to start with. I would suggest generation 1 over 2 as 2 means UEFI and pain in arse if you need to move it in a hurry. Now run ALL updates and tweak to basic settings (Defrag Daily, set updates to manual and install classic shell for the start menu). Once done, shut down, copy the VHD file and then setup a second VM in the Hyper-V console, attach the copied VHD. Start it, login and change the machine name. Shutdown and then start them both up after re-sizing RAM & CPU to suit the two roles, DC & File server.

Once you have the DC up, install all features like DC/AD, DHCP, DNS etc. etc. and then begin process of a migration from the old and not really utilised SBS 2008 machine.

Use the second VM for file serving duties after it is joined to new DC. It can also be used as a second DC if you want to go down that path but have two DC's on same hardware is defeating of the purpose.

Another tip, keep a copy of the initial build after its updated but before you add features. Very handy for future use if another VM is needed.

P.S I did see a comment above on NIC setup, I do not concur as it is very "Dark-Ages". Most servers have dual or quad NIC's. Use the VM-Host to Team them all together and then allow the vSwitch in Hyper-V to share it. This gives a virtual 10GbE interface between the the host and VMs as well as either full LACP or switch independent (Dumb switching) teaming of NICs for fast and reliable network connectivity.
There is an exception, don't team adapters that are on different platforms or busses, ie; don't team on-board with a PCI or PCIe NIC, this is asking for issues.

 

[vl1969]

Lost-benji》no offense taken, you atr right I am a bit green at the gills when iy comes to networking and dc. I understand how 2012 licensing works. I plan to install the hyperv on dells isdsm module that comes with the server.
I will use raid6 setup anyway, it's already setup. But strange thung is dell set it up with 3 virtual drives like 2x2tb and 1x 38gb. So I am thinking of dropping the virtual drives and recreate a single big one instead.
I like to keep my vms in a simple root folder as well.
Nics might be an ussue as I do not have ports on the switch for all 4 connection, can I team 2 and tha add 2 more once I am up and running? By than I might get a new switch. It's a Dell 4 port Broadcom nic.
All else is as described.
Ones I have dc vm up and functioning I plan to rebuild the current dc hardware as a second dc

 

[Lost-Benji]

Lost-benji》no offense taken, you atr right I am a bit green at the gills when iy comes to networking and dc. I understand how 2012 licensing works. I plan to install the hyperv on dells isdsm module that comes with the server.
I will use raid6 setup anyway, it's already setup. But strange thung is dell set it up with 3 virtual drives like 2x2tb and 1x 38gb. So I am thinking of dropping the virtual drives and recreate a single big one instead.
I like to keep my vms in a simple root folder as well.
Nics might be an ussue as I do not have ports on the switch for all 4 connection, can I team 2 and tha add 2 more once I am up and running? By than I might get a new switch. It's a Dell 4 port Broadcom nic.
All else is as described.
Ones I have dc vm up and functioning I plan to rebuild the current dc hardware as a second dc

Morning, No worries. Will see what I can answer here for you.

The 3 VD's maybe due to size limits of the RAID card and has created VD's with a max of 2TB (MBR limit and RAID card that doesn't support 64bit LBA.

VM's = KISS - Keep It Simple, Stupid.

NIC Teaming, yeah, simply create a Team of two and add the others later. Because you are not changing the name or virtual MAC/IP, the VM's and VM switch manager will not care.

Old machine maybe better to setup like this:
Creat a VM of it (good old Disk2VHD works great), blow away current bare-metal install and load Server 2012R2 to it, run it up as a VM host and then put your old DC back on it. Separate machines and hardware (the reason you have two DC's) but you can run replication across them of the other VM's if one host dies.

 

[vl1969]

I am not sure if the old hardware can support virtuslization, I have 2 ibm servers that do not. But I will certainty try. The thing is the old machine only have 8gb ram. But for one or two vms it might be ok. I do not think the old machine can support more than 2 small vms, but I think I can load the dc and a print server on it. I am sure I can run dc on 4gb ram vm, and print server should be ok with 4gb as well.

 

[Lost-Benji]

Ah OK, fair enough. Server 2012 will run on older s771 platforms but Win8 onwards Hyper-V will not. The lack of RAM will suck then too.

 

[vl1969]

An update, I have successfully setup the new server with 2012 hypet-v Datacenter ed. Got a 2012 standard ed. Vm and moved the dc to the vm. With some few small anoiences all seams to be running well. Now working on file server vm.